The Articulation of Pan-Africanism

This week’s theme is the articulation of Pan-Africanism. The readings on which this response paper will focus are “Pan Africanism” by Jeremiah Dibua, “from The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, by Malcolm X, and “’Negro Women Are Great Thinkers As Well As Doers’: Amy Jacques Garvey and Community Feminism in the United States, 1924-1927” by Ula Taylor. This essay will briefly summarize each reading as well as offer my response to the authors’ readings in relation to the broader theme of the articulation of Pan-Africanism.

The first reading, “Pan Africanism” by Jeremiah Dibua, mentions a man by the name of Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey was perhaps the best known Pan-Africanist advocate who espoused the emigration sentiment. “His United Negro Improvement Association was committed to the promotion of the unity of people of African descent in all parts of the world, the restoration of the dignity of the black person, the economic empowerment of black individuals, and liberation from all vestiges of colonialism” (Dibua page 516).

The second reading, “from The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, by Malcolm X, discusses the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X was born May 19, 1925 in an Omaha Hospital. His father, Reverend Earl Little, was a strong supporter of Marcus Garvey. “He believed, as did Marcus Garvey, that freedom, independence, and self-respect could never be achieved by the negro in America, and that therefore the Negro should leave America to the white man and return to his African land of origin” (Malcolm X, Page 547). Malcolm X’s mother was fathered by a white man, and that is where he got his complexion and hair color. He later would go on to explain how the black man was sick spiritually, economically, and politically. He was sick spiritually because he had accepted the white man’s Christianity. The black man was sick economically because “as a consumer, he got less than his share, and as a producer he gave least” (Malcolm X, page 548). Lastly the black man was sick because he let the white man divide him into three parties: black democrat, black republican and black liberal. Malcolm X was called the angriest Negro in America. He believed in violence. Malcolm X said that “he is for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American